DAIRY CONTROL BOARD

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1783, 15 July 1926, Page 5

DAIRY CONTROL BOARD

•':>" PRINCIPiLE OF ONE MAN ONE VOTE. T>AJRY FARMERS UNION ADHERES ' , TO; SAME. In view of the fact that the executive of the Dairy Farmers Union (Wellington District) was unable to secure the support of the recent Wellington Conference in its endeavour to'.liave-ttie principle of "one man one vote" adopted in connection with the election of members of the Dairy Control Board, it was not surprising that the subject should form one of the chief topics of discussion at yesterday's conference, says the Manawatu Times.

The executive of the Apiti branch brought forward the following re 1 - mits:—

"That this conference unanimously confirms the principle and policy adopted by the Wellington executive viz., that the Dairy Farmers" Union are strongly of the opinion that the Dairy Control Board should be elected by the individual vote of the dairy farmer on the ward system,, and, not by the directors of dairy companies or any other system."'—(Executive.)

"That the individual vote be retained and the election of the Board be an the ward system."—(Apiti). In his presidential address to delegates, the chairman, speaking on this question, said that the executive, having been authorised by the branches to support absolute control, had done so consistently. At the same time, it was asked to. advocate the ward system and protect the vote possessed by the .individual dairy farmer in electing the Board. Although successful in obtaining the ward system, the executive regretted that a determined effort was being made to take from the individual producer the only right he possessed in connection with the control of his produce, namely, the right to vote at the election of the members of the Board. The union had been the only body who fought for this right and its action had been condemned in .some quarters. At the large conference held at Wellington in April and consisting almost entirely of dairy company directors, an almost unanimous resolution was carried in favour of the ward system, while a second resolution recommending that the voting be done by dairy companies instead .of suppliers. The executive continued to make every effort to induce parliament not to del priyefthe producers of their votes.', ... Mr Campbell moved the adoption of the remits and M r J. Boycej (Glen Oroua) seconded. Mr.P. J. Small (Kairanga) considered the Wellington conference uncalled for 'and unnecessary. Dairy factory managers went to that meeting without mandates from their suppliers and expressed their; own views only. .(Hear, hear.) Iti was a certainty that dairy "farmers of New Zealand in,the last- six or seven years had only existed, and ; it was not a fair thing that when farmers elected . directors' to companies, the latter should then go to a conference and express their own opinions. There was no doubt the Conference would have an effect on the Government, 1 ahd'it was an imposition on the , part of the company directors to vote.as they had done.

Mr J. D. Balmer .(Ruamai) stated that, one company director representingr Apiti had voted for the tonnage basis .anil yet Apiti farmers, were out-and-Out in favour of the.one. man one vote principle. Mr J., McFarland. (Feilding) asked if it was a fact that the directors of one 1 company threatened to resign unless r the suppliers voted for the tonnage basis. A voice: Did they do,that? Mr MacFarland: I am given to understand so..

Mr W. T.' Pratt (Apiti) stated that the whole of the farmers in his district were in favour of the one man one vote, principle, andi if it was true that a, director at the conference had voted in favour of the ton-nage-basis, then he was at a loss to know where that director got his authority from. The chairman further remarkeed that under the proposals of the Wellington Conference, a supplier of a private company would be deprived of his vote and it would be placed in the hands of the proprietors. If the tonnage basis was adopted the result in the ilanawatu would be that 12 companies out of the 23 would have all the say and the remainder would be quite out of it. The remits were adopted unanimously, and it was also decided to send a telegram to the Prime Minister informing him of the fact. LARGE SAVINGS CLAIMED. WELLINGTON, Wednesday. ' The work of the Dairy Produce Control Board was referred to by the chairman, Mr W. Grounds , at the meeting of the National Dairy Association to-day. He defended the board's policy of absolute control. He did not claim the system was yet perfect, but they could not get the maximum efficiency without the whole-hearted support of the industry. The profits to date were £73,000 and the board had also saved the producers £IIO,OOO in freights, etc. The board had also secured improved services and was still endeavouring to bring about furt.oer improvement Mr Grounds said the idea was to maintain a steady flow of produce on to the Home market, but not to keep it in store for the sake of gaining better prices. They were going to accept the prices ruling on the market. He considered absolute control was in the best interests of both consumers and producers and would stabilise the market.